Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

October certainly was a bad month in terms of overcrowding in our hospitals. It is important to examine the statistics produced by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation to see the extraordinary variance that arises among hospitals. Deputy Martin mentioned a number in which the figures were very bad, including the hospitals in Limerick and Kilkenny. These hospitals have new emergency departments and extra staff and resources. In contrast, overcrowding at Beaumont Hospital is at its second lowest since the nurses started counting trolleys, and in Blanchardstown it is the third lowest. In St. James's Hospital overcrowding is the lowest in five years and for St. Vincent's University Hospital it is the lowest in four years. In Cavan General Hospital overcrowding is at its lowest in a long time. If this demonstrates anything, it is that the problem is not simply about resources or staffing because there seems to be no connection whatsoever between staffing and resourcing levels and the level of overcrowding. This is principally about clinical leadership, management and other matters. That is what makes it so much harder to deal with. If it was as simple as writing a cheque, we would have solved this problem a long time ago.

I wish to reassure the Deputy that November is looking a little better as the winter plan is being implemented. Today, the HSE figures indicate a total of 287 patients are on trolleys in acute hospitals nationally. That is down 25% on this day last year. The first week in November has seen numbers fall steadily. I cannot promise that this will continue, but through the additional provision of home care and social care in particular, I hope it will.

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